Spoiler! The answer is no. I cannot not ramble. I spoil with double negatives to throw you all off.
I was invited to this year's G-Anime by Fingers Delaurus, the esteemed Panel Guru. We had met at Can-Con, and he thought I would have fun at an anime con. He was completely and utterly right.
I had never been to an anime con and expected many colourful things to see. And boy did I see loads. Amazing costumes, many made by hand, were merrily worn by their creators. Not only did they wear the costumes, but many of them took on the attitude of the portrayed hero/villain. Beasts growled and swords were (scarily) swung. I walked in on swordfights, laser fights, umbrella fights, stuffed turnip fights and I think a crinoline fight. I didn't stick around to find out. It was, um, interesting.
But there was a lot more than just fights, though that certainly was a highlight. There were amazingly detailed models, a mascarade featuring amusing skits based on animes and video games. I'm a bit out of the anime loop, I fear. My main anime watching days were in university, more than a decade ago. For some strange reason surely not linked to procrastination, university was also my best video gaming time. All coincidences. Surely. Still, I recognized the origins of about half the entries, so hey, nothing to scoff at (much).
The participants were super friendly and fun to chat with, and full of insight on how to make costumes and what type of character I could easily pull off. I'll have to check most of them as I've absolutely no clue who they were. Okay, I remember maybe one syllable per name, so I guess that's a no-go. Ah well.
In between panels I would sneak from anime to anime, either dubbed or subtitled, to try and figure out what was going on. Not much success there, but I did see a few animes I'd like to check out now. I didn't write those down either, but surely I'll remember when I look at the program schedule! Surely.
The highlight of the con was working with Jay Odjick for my three English panels: Something about Plot, Something about Characters, and Writer's Block (they had official titles, but I'm about 38,000 feet above, um, Manitoba (?) right now, so it's hard to fact check). (Wait, re-open parentheses. Speaking of being above Manitoba, there are these weird areas totally lit up on the ground below. They're not cities, definitely agricultural, but the one below me right now looks like the shape of a plane. It's neat. I need to bring my binoculars next time to spy on people below. Because that won't make me look unstable.)
Anyway, as I was saying, I had loads of fun. Jay and I shared many bad jokes. He came with an entourage, too! This videotaping crew followed him for possible tv footage. He was wired and everything, and knowing this, I still disclaimed my deepest, darkest secrets. Yes, I'm a sucker for a good sound bite, and apparently my idea of “good” is “slightly off balance.” Again, ah well. (Did I mention it's really late as I write this? I apologize for the rambling. Wait, no I don't. You're on my blog. You wouldn't know you were on the right blog unless I rambled.)
What was I saying? Oh ya, Jay. Fun. Funny. Sound clips. I was a bit disappointed that his entourage didn't follow us for the Writer's Block panel. We bore our hearts out in that one. Jay spoke of hunting, I spoke of hats. At least it's all in the memories of the participants, unless they've already erased it from their memory banks, which would be understandable.
I got to hang out with some old friends, too, and chat with a bunch of interesting people, so I call this con a win! I've been invited to attend Anime North. Wouldn't miss it. At twenty times the size, I don't even want to think about what type of battles I'll run into!
Oh look, definitely a city below now. Not sure of our flight path, so not sure exactly which one. It's flat though, so I'm guessing somewhere in Saskatchewan, at this point. (I know. I'm slow at writing this blog entry. Cross-provincially slow. And I'm tired and distracted by all the shiny screens in the dark cabin. All except my own, apparently.)
Disclaimer: now I could fact check and clean this up before posting since I obviously can't do so from the plane, but where would the fun of that be? Nowhere. That's where it would be. And nowhere fun is no fun.
Note (different than a disclaimer, though still partly disclaimful): If you're wondering where I'm going, it's Calgary. It's a quick trip, filled with meetings. I won't get to see many of the people I'd love to see, but I'll be back in August for When Words Collide, and I'll get to see loads of you then. I still need to do a caffeine tour of Alberta!
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